The Reading Teacher's Playbook with Eva Mireles
Welcome to the Reading Teacher's Playbook—your go to source for upper elementary literacy teachers (grades 3-5) seeking evidence-based literacy practices. Listen in as Eva simplifies literacy instruction, promotes sustainable growth, and empowers you to create engaging lessons that make learning stick. Your host, Eva Mireles, will provide you with practical tips and tools for confident teaching, while fostering a love for reading in your students. Let's huddle up and learn together! Visit her website to learn more: https://evamireles.com/
Recent Episodes
April 28, 2026
Why Students Forget What You Teach and How to Design Lessons That Stick
Listen to this interview with Dr. Pooja Agarwal as we talk about: 1.What’s actually happening when students aren’t holding on to what we have taught them from one day to the next. 2.How to think about retrieval strategies as ...
April 21, 2026
Designing Read Aloud Lessons That Build Understanding (and Actually Stick)
Episode 131 How to design read aloud lessons that build understanding—not just engagement The difference between read aloud that supplements vs. supplants your instruction Using read aloud to teach reading skills like charact...
April 14, 2026
Accountable Talk During Read Aloud: How to Move Beyond Turn and Talk to Real Thinking
Episode 130 Show Notes Accountable Talk During Read Aloud: How to Move Beyond Turn and Talk to Real Thinking Why student talk doesn’t always lead to deeper thinking How to structure read aloud conversations to move beyond par...
April 7, 2026
Why Read Aloud Still Matters in Grades 3-5
Episode 129 - Why Read Aloud Still Matters in Grades 3–5 Classrooms In this episode we talk about: Why read alouds still matter in your Upper Elementary literacy classrooms. How Read alouds support learning science, How Read ...
March 31, 2026
Revisiting a Conversation: Why You Should Read What Your Upper Elementary Students Are Reading
In this episode: Listen in as I interview Stacey Riedmiller of Literacy for Big Kids. We talk about the what, the why and the how of reading what your students are reading. We talk about: 1 .What- What does it mean to read wh...
March 28, 2026
Why Students Forget What You Teach and How to Design Lessons That Stick
Listen to this interview with Dr. Pooja Aragawal as we talk about: 1.What’s actually happening when students aren’t holding on to what we have taught them from one day to the next. 2.How to think about retrieval strategies as...
March 24, 2026
How to Fit Science of Learning Strategies Into Your Upper Elementary Literacy Mini Lesson
Episode 127 In This Episode We Discuss How to incorporate science of learning strategies into your literacy block Using retrieval practice in reading lessons Why spaced practice improves student learning Turning learning obje...
March 17, 2026
Designing for Transfer in Reading Instruction
Episode 126 — Designing for Transfer in Reading Instruction Goal: The goal of this episode is to understand what you can do to help support student transfer of information through the application of knowledge in your upper el...
March 10, 2026
What Really Drives Student Motivation?
Episode 125 — What Really Drives Student Motivation? Goal: The goal of this episode is to understand what fuels student motivation in your upper elementary literacy classroom. We talk about: 1.What really fuels student motiva...
March 3, 2026
Teaching Students How to Take Charge of their Learning
Episode 124 — Teaching Students How to Take Charge of their Learning Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with the what, the why and the how of getting your students to take charge of their learning. We tal...
Feb. 25, 2026
Designing Reading Lessons That Outlast the Pacing Guide
Episode 123 :Designing Reading Lessons That Outlast the Pacing Guide Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you design literacy lessons that promote transfer and long-term learning — even when that means making intentional...
Feb. 17, 2026
Helping Students Build Connected Meaning in Your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom
Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with tangible tools for helping students build connected meaning within and across texts. We talk about: 1.Concept Mapping 2. Recap of chapter 6 of Smart Teaching Strong...
Feb. 10, 2026
Why- How Your Students Learn and Practice Matters in your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom?
Episode 121 — Why- How Your Students Learn and Practice Matters in your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom? Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with tangible tools for choosing how to teach and practice ...
Feb. 3, 2026
Why Learning That Lasts Often Feels Hard
Episode 120 — Why Learning That Lasts Often Feels Hard Goal: The goal of this episode is to help you understand why learning that lasts requires productive struggle and how retrieval and spacing routines help learning stick ...
Jan. 27, 2026
What Does it Mean for Learning to Stick in Your Upper Elementary Literacy Classroom?
Episode 119: What Does It Mean for Learning to Stick? The goal of this episode is to help you walk away with an understanding of what retrieval practices are and how they help support student learning, in other words how to m...
Jan. 20, 2026
Leading Yourself When the System Falls Short
In this episode: We talk about what it means to be a self-led teacher and how being a self-led teacher can help shape your practice and improve student outcomes as an upper elementary literacy teacher. We also reveal our anch...
Dec. 30, 2025
The 2025 Playbook Recap: Our Top 5 Most-Listened-To Episodes
In this episode: Listen in as I wrap up the top 5 most listened to episodes in 2025. We talk about: The top 5 most listened to episodes of the podcast for 2025 and what you can look forward to from the podcast in quarter 1. L...
Dec. 23, 2025
From Reflection to Reset- The How Episode
We talk about: How to conduct a mid-year check in and what to do with the information you gather during your check in meeting. Links to resources mentioned in the podcast: Mid Year Check In Grab my free guide for keeping your...
Dec. 16, 2025
The Mid Year Pause: Why Reflection Matters
We talk about: The what and the why of taking time to reflect on your literacy block and how you are uniquely positioned to do that. Links to resources mentioned in the podcast: Mid Year Check In Grab my free guide for keepin...
Dec. 9, 2025
The Motivated Literacy Classroom
In this episode: Listen to the final episode in our Motivation Matters Mini Series. We talk about: Reflecting on the three basic psychological needs that your students have and thinking about how they show up in your literacy...
Dec. 2, 2025
Building Competence – Helping Students Believe They Can
In this episode: Listen to the fourth episode in our Motivation Matters Mini Series. We talk about: We continue our conversation about motivation and why it matters in your upper elementary literacy classroom. We also talk ab...
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